How To Budget For A New Apartment
Thinking of moving? Not quite ready to drop 20% on a new home you can call your own? Whatever your reasons for deciding to get a new apartment, the costs of moving need to be taken into account in your budgeting. If you’re moving to escape a rent increase, it may surprise you to find that the increase can be far less than the cost of moving.
The Obvious Costs
If you plan on moving your items yourself, you won’t pay a moving company. However, there are still many upfront costs associated with moving from one apartment to another. Almost all apartment complexes will ask for first month’s rent and a security deposit. Depending on where you live, this can range from $600 to $1200 or more. While you might be able to fund the extra costs of moving by getting a short-term cash advance loan, it’s still going to be a while before the previous apartment returns your security deposit. Add to these cost an application fee ranging from $25 to $50, and last month’s rent too, and you can see this going to be an expensive proposition, no matter how you look at it. Staying put may eventually be your least expensive option.
The Not So Obvious Costs
Even so, if you’re looking to fund a different lifestyle, you might find savings elsewhere in your budget. If, for instance, your new apartment is closer to your place of work, you might save on gas. If you give up your car entirely because you plan on taking mass transportation, it can easily save $300 to $500 in transportation costs a month, particularly if you have a car loan. The same, however, is true if you’re going to be living further away - your transportation costs will naturally increase. If you must travel further to get to a grocery or the daycares in the area are far more costly, you will have to add those into your budget calculations. Do some worse case scenarios. If gas goes back to $4/gallon will you be able to pay your rent and keep food on the table? These are very important considerations in light of the way energy costs can severely impact your household budget.
Energy costs can be contained, however, if your apartment complex offers free cable or no heating bills, this can also be a part of your budgeting equation. Find out exactly what utility bills you will be responsible for and then see how that differs from your present situation. Maybe the apartment complex is wired for free wi-fi, saving you $50/month or about $600/year. What’s included in your rent and what is going to come out of your pocket? Figuring out whether you save or lose money on a deal is just the first step. If you decide that the increase in your household expenses is well worth the increase in your living standard, then opting to move can still be a great choice - as long as you remain within a viable household budget.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
